Founded in 1863, Third Baptist Church constructed its historic current structure in 1903. Recently, the church completed a major interior renovation with a modern audio system built around loudspeakers from Community Professional.
AV/COM Integrators of Severn, Maryland designed and installed Third Baptist’s new audio system. AV/COM Sales/System engineer Chris Green knew that Third Baptist’s worship services mixed traditional elements with a modern music style so the church would need an audio system capable of both clear, intelligible speech and high-quality music production.
Green also spoke with the church’s architect, John J. Recny of Helbing Lipp Recny Architects and the church’s construction manager, Harry J. Thompson of Metropolitan Facilities Solutions, and learned that the church wanted close visual integration of the audio system with the interior design envisioned by the architect.
To achieve these goals, Green designed a system based on Community’s E SERIES loudspeakers.
“We knew we couldn’t just replace the church’s existing central cluster because of the visual impact on the interior design,” he said. “So, I modeled the system with a stack of the ENTASYS ENT-FR columns on each side of the stage. I knew they would almost disappear visually against the wall and the line-array effect would keep the sound in the seating area and away from ceiling reflections.”
The ENTASYS columns are supported by four under-stage VLF208LV subwoofers. Green angled the ENT-FR columns 10% downwards to cover the congregation while avoiding a back-wall echo and he added four Community MX10B floor monitors for on-stage foldback use.
The system includes Shure wireless microphones for the pastor and the worship team and existing microphones were reused for the choir. A Roland digital mixer provides automatic or manual control of the system switched with an AMX control panel. The system is powered by QSC amplifiers with a QSC Q-Sys processor for networking and DSP services. AV/COM also installed the church’s new video system with Barco projectors and a Roland video switch. The church plans to begin video streaming of its services in the near future.
Green says the E SERIES loudspeakers provide excellent directional control. “The columns are behind every microphone,” he said. “But we have excellent vocal clarity and no feedback.” He added, “This was my first experience with the E SERIES in a high-level music environment and I was very pleased with their ability to provide great music quality and consistent distribution even when they’re projecting 100dB into the seating space.”